Animals such as livestock, poultry and pets obtain nutrition from various sources including forages, feed grains, protein supplements and the like. Rising costs for these sources and the desire to provide dietary elements these sources lack has led to the use of pelleted feeds.
Pelleted feeds are agglomerated feeds formed by extruding ingredients in a mechanical process. The purpose of pelleting is to take a finely divided, sometimes dusty, unpalatable and difficult-to-handle feed material and, by using heat, moisture and pressure, form it into larger particles. These larger particles are easy to handle, more palatable and are reported to result in improved feeding results when compared to the unpelleted feed. See, for example, Pellet Mill Operators Manual, American Feed Manufacturers Association, Arlington, VA, (1982), p. 3.
Pelleting also prevents the segregation of ingredients in a mixing, handling or feeding process. By consuming a pelleted feed, the animal is more apt to receive a homogenously mixed ration than when a non-pelleted feed that has separated into constituents through these processes is consumed.
Illustrative categories of animal feeds include high grain, heat sensitive, high natural protein, complete dairy and urea feeds. Typical high grain feeds include about 75 weight percent starchy grain products, about 15 to about 20 weight percent plant proteins, about 5 to about 10 weight percent crude fat and about 3 to about 5 weight percent crude fiber.
The manufacturing of feed pellets is an extrusion molding operation. Feed ingredients are made up of various constituents such as proteins, acids, sugars, fibers and minerals. These constituents are softened (conditioned) by combining them with steam which introduces heat and moisture. When controlled compression is applied to the "conditioned" feed ingredients in a pellet mill die chamber, they form a dense mass shaped to conform to the die through which they are pressed. When the heat and moisture are withdrawn by cooling and drying, the shaped mass in pellet form retains its shape and density, and has certain "toughness" or durability to withstand moderately rough handling without excessive breakage.
Steam conditioning also provides lubrication for the pelleting process so as to obtain a faster production rate, extend die life and reduce energy consumption. Furthermore, steam conditioning gelatinizes any starch present, thereby increasing the nutritional value of the feed.
Other desirable liquids such as molasses, sap, and fish solubles can be introduced into the steam line during the conditioning process to add nutritional value to the feed.
While molasses is a component in many animal feeds, the addition of molasses in cold mill processes creates many problems, including coating of the conveyor augers, overloading of conveyor motors, inadequate mixing with the other ingredients, and the like. On the other hand, molasses can be added at elevated temperatures into the steam line of the conditioner. However, even at elevated temperatures molasses is still a viscous liquid that can form lumps. It is also difficult to evenly distribute molasses throughout the other feed ingredients. Furthermore, a balance must be maintained between the steam and heated molasses to maintain the proper temperature and moisture content that produces tough pellets. Slight variations in the moisture content or temperature of the feed, steam or liquid molasses can cause poor pellets or loss of pelleting capability.
A binder can be added to the mixture if adequate pellet quality is not, or cannot be, obtained through proper steam conditioning and die selection. Two conventional binders are bentonite, a clay, and lignin sulfonate. However, binders such as clays do not provide energy value to the feed.
The present invention provides a pelleting agent having energy value while obviating the shortcomings of the aforementioned prior art pelleting compositions that seek to incorporate molasses into a pelleted feed.